Norway backs Arctic floating project with state grant

A floating offshore wind project planned for Norway’s Barents Sea inside the Arctic Circle has been awarded a NOK 2 billion (€175 million) grant from the Norwegian state-owned energy agency Enova.

The 75MW GoliatVind project is being developed by renewables developer Source Galileo alongside offshore wind specialist Odfjell Oceanwind and Italian oil company Eni's Norwegian subsidiary, Vår Energi. Japanese energy major Kansai joined the consortium in December.

The project is planned off the coast of Hammerfest in the Norwegian Arctic. It is designed to supply electricity oil and gas extraction efforts at the Goliat platform 5-11km away in the Barents Sea.

Norway currently hosts the world’s largest floating offshore wind project, the 88MW Hywind Tampen. Like Hywind Tampen, GoliatVind will be used to power oil and gas extraction in Norway’s North Sea.

GoliatVind was designed to use the Deepsea Star floating platform designed by Odfjell Oceanwind to support 15MW-plus turbines at sea, and the project anticipates using five 15MW turbines to meet its 75MW capacity.

GoliatVind beat six other projects to win the Enova funding.

Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO at Enova, said proposals were submitted “at a very high level”.

He added: “Floating offshore wind technology represents an exciting opportunity to take us further steps towards a low-emission society. It is therefore good to see that there is knowledge, capacity and commitment to move technology development in this country."

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